- Aug 13, 2007
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-- Pacwa, M (2011). How to Listen When God is Speaking. Frederick, MD: The Word Among Us Press. p. 16.Aquinas and most theologians after him [answered] that [to be made in God's image and likeness means] we humans can know things, reason, and make choices [unlike every other animal on Earth].
Other animals like DDR German Shepherds (and even other humans) exhibit intelligence suggesting rationality is a matter of degree not kind, that humans are the most advanced intelligence, not the only intelligence in the animal kingdom. For example, my dog knows he's going for a walk when I pick up the leash, can reason when he wants to return home when he's tired from the walk, and makes choices about whether to sit still for the leash to be connected to leave the house or when to turn towards the house and resist my pull of the leash when he's tired of walking (he will even stop walking in the neighborhood and turn around indicating he's ready to return home, completely unprompted, not trained behavior, and he remembers which roads to take to get there), or when to approach me with the toy or continue to maintain distance for keep-away play. How are these not plain demonstrations that Aquinas was wrong, that being able to reason and make choices is not limited to man?